I have spent most of my life being constantly shocked, appalled, saddened, and confused by the general foolishness of the masses, boiling it down to the excesses of our times, causing me to revile the present, often quoting the line from the film Sabrina, “Why, I could pick a century out of a hat, blindfolded, and come up with a better one.”

However, a reading of history tells us that I am wrong, that the great masses of humanity have long been fools, only now technology has made it so that we can easily share our foolishness with other fools, causing them to take part in foolishness they never would’ve come up with on their own – It is not a modern problem, but rather an ancient one dress up in new, shiny gadgets.

We recently moved to a new apartment, a necessity born out of absolutely terrible neighbors, and we now find ourselves in a much more peaceful setting, including what is essentially a jungle view from our balcony. The first night that I was here alone I took a break from moving stuff and picked up Henry David Thoreau’s essay, The Wild (1862), which begins, “I wish to speak a word for nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with the freedom and culture merely civil, – to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school committee and everyone of you will take care of that.”

There was no doubt that I was going to love this one. without yet having a bed set up or a complete couch, I lay on cushions on the floor, content to not have the Internet, and devoured Thoreau’s words. A few other quotes from that same essay:

  • “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.”
  • It sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the village. The thought of some work will run in my head and I am not where my body is, – I am out of my senses. In my walks I would fain return to my senses.”
  • “Nowadays almost all man’s improvements, so-called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap.”
  • “Hope in the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps.”
  • “My desire for knowledge is intermittent, but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant.”
  • “While almost all men feel an attraction drawing them to society, few are attracted strongly to nature. In their reaction to nature men appear to me for the most part, notwithstanding their arts, lower than the animals. It is not often a beautiful relation, as in the case of the animals. How little appreciation of the beauty of the landscape there is among us!”

Absolutely fantastic work by one of our greatest thinkers.

Needing to cook dinner, I put down the book and picked up my old brick iPod that’s still going strong and listened to an episode of the old-time radio show Theater Five. The episode, from October 1, 1964, is entitled John Hansen, Hermit. Those one I chose completely at random from the shows I had downloaded, coincidentally it ended up being about a man who was planning to kill himself by starving to death in a public park, but decided against it after finding great solace in the writings of Thoreau. Needless to say, I absolutely loved the episode, which closed with the Thoreau quote, “If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.” Thoreau was harassed by fools in the 1850s, as John Hansen was in the 1960s, and I’ve felt in our times.

It would be one thing if the foolishness only impacted the person being foolish, and other fools, but we all and are being punished by their poor choices. that is something that many throughout history have seen clearly, and for pointing that out, or even just for wanting to be left alone, these people were labeled as cranks. Well, yes, I similarly get cranky and annoyed to be constantly punished for the mistakes of others.

A very small example of case in point – I have an absolutely perfect driving record, however, despite this my car insurance just went up some $200. When I inquired why this was, I was told that it is due to Florida being a no-fault state, and because there are so many uninsured drivers here that get into accidents. Thus, I am literally paying for the mistakes (foolishness) of others, and yes, it makes me very cranky. And yet, at least, much like John Hansen, I’ve been able to take solace in the words of Thoreau, and other nonconformists through the ages, who have been able to see through the nonsense, to see what humans are capable of, and strive for a higher existence, not content to wallow in whatever current distracting, meaningless fad is sweeping society. And I am grateful to not feel so alone.